Steffen Kverneland

(b. 14 January 1963, Norway)

Steffen Kverneland is a self-taught comic artist and illustrator, best known for his striking caricatures of famous people and his cartoony renditions of literary works. Born in Haugesund, he is got some art training from his uncle Karl Anton Østensjø, while making his debut in the humor magaizne KOnk at the age of 16. In the first part of 1980s, he created a great many stories for underground fanzines like Brage, sometimes using the pseudonym S. Susej. Initially working in a great diversity of styles, he eventually developed a personal style, strongly inspired by cubism.

His debut album 'De Knyttede Never' was publishing by the small firm TEGN A/L in 1993. The book, that was based on Øvre Richter Frich's novel character Jonas Fjeld, won Kverneland the Norwegian SPROING comics prize. The author continued to work on comics giving a satirical view on literature with his series 'Amputerte Klassikere', that was serialized in four books between 1994 and 2001. The series was followed by 'Garborg & Co', a 2004 booklet about the writer Arne Garborg.

Edvard Munch comic story from Kanon

Kverneland has worked on several projects with Lars Fiske, starting with 'Olaf G', their 2004 comics biography of Norwegian grandmaster cartoonist Olaf Gulbransson. Their next project was 'Kanon', a series of comic books about art from the 19th century, for which Kverneland focuses on the work of Edvard Munch. Steffen Kverneland has illustrated books by Jan Erik Vold and is a cartoonist for Nationen.